The Political Record · Federal electoral districts
Kitchener South—Hespeler
Kitchener-Sud—Hespeler
Federal riding · ON · No. 35050 · 2023 representation order
- Member
- Matt Strauss Conservative
- 2025 result
- Conservative gain by 1,028 votes
- Turnout
- 70.1% of 86,781 electors
- Population
- 119,850 2021 census
- Area
- 111 km²
- Figures as of
- 2026-09-25
Distinctions · ranked against all 343 ridings
- Changed hands in 2025One of 58 of 343 ridings where the winning party changed from the transposed 2021 result (21 of 122 in Ontario)
- Boundaries unchanged in 2023Covers the same ground as its predecessor · one of 59 of 343 by area
- Closeness of the raceWon by 1,028 votes (1.7 pts) · 20th of 343 in Canada
In brief
Illustration after: © House of Commons
Member of Parliament
Matt Strauss
- Member: Health
IDid this riding change?
Essentially no. Today's Kitchener South—Hespeler covers almost exactly the same ground as the Kitchener South—Hespeler riding it replaced.
How this is measured. Share of the current riding's area that came from each former riding, by intersecting the 2013 and 2023 boundary files. It is area, not population. Elections Canada counts 48 of 343 ridings as entirely unchanged.
IIThe 2025 result
Conservative gain
Elected
Matt Strauss
Conservative
28,973
47.9% of valid votes
Margin
1,028
votes · +1.7 pts
Runner-up
Valerie Bradford
Liberal
27,945
46.2% of valid votes
Conservative 47.9% · Liberal 46.2% · New Democratic 3.0% · Green 2.0%
Turnout70.1% of 86,781 electors
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | 2021 | ± |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Strauss | Conservative | 28,973 | 47.9% | 35.2% | +12.7 |
| Valerie Bradford | Liberal | 27,945 | 46.2% | 37.1% | +9.1 |
| Lorne Bruce | New Democratic | 1,823 | 3.0% | 16.1% | −13.1 |
| Ethan Russell | Green | 1,208 | 2.0% | 3.4% | −1.4 |
2 further candidates, each under 1% of the vote
| Randall Williams | People's | 386 | 0.6% |
| Kathleen Dueck | Other | 96 | 0.2% |
The 2021 column is Elections Canada's official transposition of the 2021 result onto these 2023 boundaries. ± is the change in each party's share. It is not "swing": with four or more competitive parties there is no single pair to swing between.
IIIHow close was it, really
Swing needed to flip
0.8 pts
Half the margin: the share that would have had to move from first to second.
Third place vs. the margin
1,823 votes
New Democratic took more than the 1,028-vote margin. True in 100 of 343 ridings in 2025.
Election-day polls won by others
41 of 174
4 polls ended in an exact tie.
Flip the seatHypothetical
It would have taken 515 voters switching from Conservative to Liberal — 0.9% of the 60,431 valid votes, 0.8 points — to change the result. No ballot was cast this way; this only moves votes between the top two.
Conservative28,973
Liberal27,945
Still Conservative by 1,028 votes. Actual margin: 1,028.
IVElection day versus advance
Only 54.7% of this riding's votes were cast at election-day polls. The rest were advance or special ballots.
Election dayAdvance & specialGap
Conservative49.9%45.5%−4.4
Liberal43.2%49.9%+6.7
New Democratic3.4%2.6%−0.8
Green2.5%1.3%−1.2
An association, not a cause. Voters who cast ballots before election day differed from those who turned out on the day. It does not say why. There is no poll-level turnout figure on this page: the elector count on a polling division includes people who voted in advance and were counted elsewhere.
VWhat kind of place this is
- Median total household income is $96,000 — a little higher than the median riding's $84,000.highestlowest85th highest of 343
- Median age is 36.8 — a little lower than the median riding's 41.6.highestlowest40th lowest of 343
- Share aged 25-64 with a bachelor's degree or higher is 32.9% — about 1.2 times the median riding's 28.2%.highestlowest137th highest of 343
- Share who are immigrants is 29.6% — about 1.7 times the median riding's 17.3%.highestlowest110th highest of 343
- Share of households that own their home is 67.1% — a little lower than the median riding's 71.4%.highestlowest125th lowest of 343
- Share with French as a mother tongue is 1.0% — about 63 percent of the median riding's 1.6%.highestlowest101st lowest of 343
2021 Census, keyed to the 2023 representation order. Comparisons are against the median riding, not Canada as a whole. Each rule places this riding among all 343.
VIWhere it is
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The card
No. 35050ON · 2025
Kitchener South—Hespeler
Matt Strauss
- Result
- Conservative gain by 1,028
- Turnout
- 70.1%
- Population
- 119,850
- Area
- 111 km²
Changed hands in 2025Boundaries unchanged in 2023Closeness of the race
One of 343The Political Record
A card exists for every one of the 343 ridings.
Every figure on it is the figure on this page: the 2025 result and margin, turnout, the 2021 census population, the area, and the distinctions ranked against all 343 ridings. The portrait is an illustration after the official House of Commons photograph.
Open a neighbour to collect the next one.